Today, AOL announced that they’ve agreed to acquire TechCrunch.

The move on AOL’s part appears to be spurred by a need to increase their holdings in the content network sector. They’re hoping to jump on board the current information surge of content distribution hitting the open web. As web content finds itself married to social+search, the web generates its own self-feeding traffic that drives customers through numerous blogs every day—and with them eyeballs, advertisements, and revenue. Already this morning AOL announced interest in buying 5min—a video encyclopedia website—for between $50 and $65 million. Peanuts compared to most market acquisitions of a similar sort. That alone has sparked some wondering about how much TechCrunch went for.

“Engagement with thought leaders is as important to AOL as our engagement with our contributors, audiences, publishers and advertisers, and TechCrunch’s conferences and websites will give us a promising, additional springboard to join and amplify these conversations. We’re committed to quality in everything we do at AOL, and look forward to working with Heather, Michael and the TechCrunch team to extend the brand,” said David Eun, President of AOL Media and Studios.

Earlier this year AOL lost a lot of money on the website Bebo—a social networking blog website—which speculators thought the media giant might be better off simply abandoning to the winds rather than attempting to sell. Yet, sell they did and it’s been rumored that what once they purchased for almost $850 million they ended up letting it go for a mere $10 million. Add this to AOL no longer resting under the powerful umbra of Ted Turner’s reputation after he resigned in 2003 and we’re looking at a company on the rocks when it comes to media dominance.

“This is a doozy,” says SA editor Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins. “This is great for the new media ecosystem on a number of fronts. First of all, the sale price, rumored to be between $30 and $50 million validates that a New Media property is a valuable thing in the wider marketplace.

“More importantly, though, for the rest of the publications in the running for the top slots in the tech sector (sites like GigaOM, VentureBeat, Mashable, AllThingsD and even our own publications) all get to move up the food chain. While Arrington says he’ll stay for at least three years, he’s going to eventually leave, and most certainly take a diminished role at the company in the meantime. Techcrunch will slowly lose it’s voice at Aol, and that will only leave a larger hole in the marketplace for competitors of Techcrunch to fill.”

With these content company purchases, it’s obvious that AOL feels the need to position themselves to tackle the oncoming information revolution being lead by numerous mobile devices in the hands of the everyday-Joe and the boom of social + search. Two elements that have been changing the landscape of the open web for years now as innovations continue to push public interest and revenue higher and higher.